(ESPNCRICINFO) – Trent Rockets cemented their status as the stand-out team in the rebooted Women’s Hundred, as they romped to an eight-wicket victory over Leeds Sunrisers at Lord’s.
Chasing a meagre target of 92, the contest was broken apart by the bruising strokeplay of Sophia Dunkley and Beth Mooney, whose 69-run opening stand came from just 40 balls. The winning moment then fell to Trent Rockets’ captain, Ashleigh Gardner, who put a difficult off-field week behind her to blaze the winning boundary through the covers off her fellow Aussie, Jess Jonassen.
However, the result had scarcely been in doubt at any stage of an afternoon in which Rockets stitched together three distinct collapses – 3 for 7 in nine balls, 4 for 6 in 12, and 3 for 9 in 15 – into one almighty meltdown.
The wickets were shared around: two each for Kim Garth, Samantha Bates, Charley Phillips and Georgia Adams. However, it was Adams – in her fifth Hundred final out of six editions – who proved to be the game-breaker. Quite apart from her own breakthroughs, she served two telling moments of inspiration in the field. First, an exceptional, intuitive catch at short third to remove Sunrisers’ prime match-winner, Phoebe Litchfield, for 10, before following that up with a tenacious interception at cover to run out Jonassen for a duck.
The final moments of the match proved to be an all-Australian affair, but that was a recurring theme of a contest featuring five of the 11 Aussies who crushed England in last month’s T20 World Cup final, at this same venue.
Although Garth leaked the day’s first boundary, when she dropped short to Bryony Smith, it was Litchfield who seemed primed to lay down the day’s big marker. Having made 48 from 35 balls in that previous final, she followed a first-ball four off her pads with a sweetly timed launch for six over the covers off Bates to breeze along to 10 from three balls.
Garth, however, instantly transformed the mood for Rockets. Smith tried to clear the inner ring but chipped a tame catch to cover, where Nat Sciver-Brunt held on well over her shoulder, before Lauren Winfield-Hill – on her 36th birthday – poked her first legitimate delivery to backward point as Garth surprised her on the back foot with extra bounce.
And, to cap a collapse of 3 for 7 in nine balls, Litchfield then succumbed to Phillips, courtesy of a smart piece of thinking from Adams at gully. Sensing the batter was sizing up a ramp shot, Adams shuffled finer as the bowler began her run-up, and was perfectly placed to intercept the deflection, as Sunrisers limped to 26 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.
